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Sunken Relief Carving Project

Mark Gough carves an Egyptian style relief of the god ‘Thoth’ in spalted sycamore

The idea for this article came from a book purchased many years ago titled Relief Woodcarving & Lettering by Ian Norbury, specifically from the chapter Egyptian Relief. The author explains the technique and supplies images to show examples, one of which is a relief carving of Osiris and Tutankhamun. The selected image for this carving is an adaptation of the god Thoth from a stone carving in Luxor. The basic technique for sunken or Egyptian relief requires the outline to be cut in with a V-tool and the inside edges rounded over and shaped to obtain the illusion of depth with the use of shadow.

To obtain a deeper shadow effect here around the edge straight stop cuts are cut in with a knife. The smooth, sanded finish I have gone for avoids the reflection from tooled surfaces and concentrates the eye on the carved detail. A symbol for Thoth was added to fill the negative space on the lower right and to balance the whole carving. The finished relief was coated in Danish oil then waxed and buffed to a soft sheen, however, this would look amazing finished with gold leaf or even coloured spirit stain.

Thoth

Thoth is the Egyptian god of writing, magic, wisdom, and the moon. He was one of the most important gods of Ancient Egypt, alternately said to be self-created or born of the seed of Horus from the forehead of Set. As the son of these two deities (representing order and chaos respectively) he was also god of equilibrium. Excerpt from World History Encyclopaedia written by Joshua J Mark. www.worldhistory.org/Thoth

Using a template

It is helpful to use a template to cut in the outline of the carving. Use a piece of 3mm hardboard or plywood and cut out the shape with a bandsaw or coping saw using the pattern provided. Clean up the edges and sand smooth then just take off the square edges with a couple of passes of sandpaper. This will prevent the knife from digging into the template.

1. Fix the template (see sidebar) to the blank with double-sided tape or tiny dabs of adhesive positioned centrally and cut around the perimeter with a sharp, pointed carving knife. Take a light pass to begin with to sever the wood fibres then go around again to cut deep enough to form a stop cut. You may choose to do this freehand without making a template
2. Mark in the internal detail to give you some idea of the contours of the image. Then, to navigate some of the tight curves, select a small, shallow gouge and cut in the outline up to the knife wall. Cut just deep enough to lift thin slivers of wood away to reveal the overall shape of the carving. Some areas are cut deeper than others, which will be apparent as you proceed
3. Starting on the lower half of the carving cut the outline in deeper with the knife and remove the waste using a 10mm shallow straight gouge or similar to create depth each side. This and the top left side of the ibis and opposite shoulder are the deepest areas, so it may make several shallow cuts to get the correct depth
4. Use a V-tool to cut in beneath the lower arm and carve away the lower edge of the V-cut with a 12mm shallow fishtail gouge. This area only needs to be shallow – just enough to reveal the shape of the lower arm
5. The sash is shaped into a raised ridge down its length. Mark a line as shown and make cuts from this towards each side to create the effect. Soften the top of the ridge as it merges into the waist to give the effect of it wrapping round the back
6. Give the lower half of the carving a light sanding and check the contours. Make any adjustments to get the correct shaping then turn your attention to the arm on the right of the image. Use a 10mm shallow gouge again and cut in the outline of the arm. You may find a skew chisel useful at the point where it goes under the wrist of the front forearm
7. Make a deep stop cut on the bottom of the tail of the ibis with a straight chisel, this is the lowest area of the carving. Cut in the shoulder with a V-tool. The upper body is carved out to form a shallow gradient from the sash to the lower arm and undercut very slightly so that it makes the whole arm stand out on front of the chest
8. The area above the arm is carved out to the same level below the arm and the gradient continued up to the opposite shoulder, which is also cut deep to give the illusion of the body being twisted slightly to face sideways towards the tablet. Leave the left wing pronounced, this will be the highest part of the carving. Again, a skew chisel is useful here to carve out the sharp corners
9. The tablet or writing palette is cut in with straight chisels, just shallow stop cuts enough to make it visible. It can be done with a knife if you prefer or a V-tool slightly tilted to the inner edge
10. The detail of the hand holding the tablet is quite a challenge due to the shape and size of the curves. Use the corner of a small shallow gouge and incise the shape of the fingers as shown then remove the waste with a small round carbide rotary burr. This needs to be quite deep as it is set in the background
11. Go round all the internal edges with a medium rotary burr to smooth over the tool marks and get into any difficult missed areas, then go over the whole carving with 80 grits and paper and check all the contours and depth of cuts
12. Carefully carve out the reed pen with a V-tool then sand the whole piece with 120 grit sandpaper and re-mark the inner details of the skirt, sash, armbands and collar
13. Cut in the edge of the kilt with a V-tool just deep enough to make it stand proud, then carve away the lower right section with a shallow gouge to level it out and blend in
14. The pleats of the kilt are scribed with the knife at an angle to undercut them slightly, then carved out with a small shallow gouge and cleaned up with sandpaper. You will need a skew chisel or pointed knife to remove the waste under the hip area and down the left side. The remaining details of the sash, armbands and collar are done the same way. The texturing of the Ibis can be done with a V-tool or, as in this instance, with a nail-head burr and rotary power unit. Use this with a small round burr to cut in the eye and navel too
15. A symbol was carved into the bottom right corner to balance the whole piece. To do this, position the bottom of the symbol in line with the bottom of the kilt and the outer right-hand edge of the circle in line with the fingers behind the tablet. You will have to select the most suitable gouge in your tool box to match the curves. Alternatively it can be done with a V-tool and skew chisel. To finish the carving use a small rounded punch to stipple the armbands
16. Clean up all the internal sides and surfaces with 180 grit sandpaper then give it two coats of Danish oil. To finish off, wax and buff with clear paste wax

Further reading

Carving Start to Finish

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